Personalize the login screen in Windows 10

Signing up on the computer is often one of the first things we do every day. However, the login screen is not directly the most beautiful or informative part of Windows. Each time you need to type in your username and password, you only do it because it’ must’. Windows 10 offers more than any previous version of Windows options to customize the login as desired. Personalize the login screen in 13 steps.

Tip 01: Would like to sign up?

In order to keep the use of the computer as simple as possible, it was not even necessary a long time ago to log in with a username and password on Windows. But that time is over. Microsoft wants to make Windows more personal and this requires that Windows knows who is logged in. That’s why logging in with a username and password has been the default since some Windows versions. Login to Windows 10 consists of two parts, the Lock screen and Login screen. The first is the screen that shows Windows when nobody is logged in or the computer is locked. The Login screen is the screen that comes after that, which is the screen where you enter the username and password. Both screens are closely connected and are also called the login or login screen.

Access control

Username and password are the first step in the process called access control. The username identifies yourself: you say who you are. The computer looks in its list of users to see if you are on it. If not, you will not get access and stop the process here. If you are on the list, you still have to prove that you are the person you claim to be. This is called authentication. The most commonly used proof is the password, but it can also be a fingerprint or a pass you have, or a combination of both. If the proof is correct, the authentication is ready and you are allowed to enter. What you can do on the computer afterwards depends on your role and rights. This falls within the next step of the process of access control, the authorisation.

Tip 02: Login options

Depending on the version and hardware, Windows 10 has various options to customize the login method and appearance of the login screen to suit your preferences. If you are using a new computer or log in for the first time with a new user account, the latest version of Windows 10 will also ask you a number of questions about this. For example, you can choose directly to log in with a PIN code or biometric data instead of a password. Logging in with a PIN code is even the new default method, to configure it just click Next and then select the PIN code. You can also change the way of logging in at any time afterwards. You will find the Login options option in the new settings window via Start / Settings / Accounts.

Tip 03: Photo

The first item on the Accounts screen is Your info. Here you can actually only find the option to embellish the personal information on the login screen with a photo. Click Camera if you want to take a photo with a webcam, click Find image if you want to use a photo or image that is already on the computer. Select the image and select Select Image. The image you use doesn’t have to be a picture of yourself, but that makes it easier to use the computer with multiple accounts.

Tip 04: Password options

You can find the options for the way of registering by clicking on Login options on the left. The top option is to log in with facial recognition via Windows Hello. This option will not be available on many computers. However, the option to set a PIN code is available. According to Microsoft, a PIN code is safer than a password because it is set per device. You use your password when you log in with a Microsoft account, since on each device.

If you want to log in with a PIN code from now on, click on Add under the heading PIN code. First enter the current password and then click on Login. Then type in the code you want to use to log in to this PC twice. The PIN code should be at least four digits long and not in a certain pattern: more numbers and variation is better. Confirm with OK. To test this, click Start, then click on the photo of your account and unsubscribe. Open the login screen and see that where there was previously Password, now is PIN code. Type the PIN code and press Enter to log in.
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Hello Windows

With the login options you will repeatedly find the term Windows Hello. It is the collective name for all new features in Windows 10 around login. Logging in with a PIN code is part of Windows Hello, but also logging in with an image password, with a fingerprint and through facial recognition. Windows Hello makes logging in easier, but unfortunately the possibilities depend entirely on the hardware. For example, the image password works best on a touch screen and a corresponding fingerprint scanner is required for logging in with a fingerprint. And only a very limited number of webcams and cameras suffice for logging in via facial recognition, which you can only find in the more expensive notebooks and tablets.

Logitech Brio-webcam, which you can connect to any computer via usb, allows you to log in via facial recognition. With a price of 175 euros or more, this 4k-ultra-hd-webcam is unfortunately not cheap.

Tip 05: Image

Another replacement of the password is the image password. Actually it’s all about using the mouse to draw a fixed pattern over a certain image. You can choose the image and pattern yourself. Under Picture Password, click Add. First enter the normal password and click OK. Then click Select Image and select an image. Click Open and confirm that this is the correct image using this image. Then, three times you need to draw a pattern on the image with the mouse, or with your fingers when there is a touch-sensitive screen on the computer. Then repeat the pattern again until you have successfully installed the image password. Confirm by clicking Finish. You can test the new password again by logging off from Windows and logging in again.

Tip 06: Well or no e-mail

When you log in to Windows with a Microsoft ID, Windows 10 displays additional information in addition to the account name. That’s not very much yet, but the corresponding e-mail address, for example, can be displayed. This can be useful or just fun, but it also means that anyone who sees your computer when you logged out can read your email address. If you don’t want that, then in the Login Options screen, turn off the lower option called Account Details on the Login screen. If you don’t find the view problem or useful, but you don’t see any additional information about the account name on the login screen, turn this option on correctly.